Panel tears the lid off the culture of surveillance

Other panelists included East Village Internet entrepreneur Paul Garrin, left, and radical attorney Stanley Cohen.Photo by Sarah Ferguson

On Sept. 23, James Bamford, a leading expert on the history of the National Security Agency and its ever-expanding snooping capabilities, joined Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, and independent journalist Paul DeRienzo for a forum on “Ethics, Law and Surveillance Culture” at the Great Hall at Cooper Union. Also speaking were radical attorney Stanley Cohen and Cooper alumnus Paul Garrin, founder of the Internet domain-name service Name.Space and WiFi-NY.

Recent revelations by whistleblower Edward Snowden and our own unwitting collusion with government and corporate surveillance via the use of cellphones and social media sites like Facebook and Instagram were the jumping-off points for the forum, which attempted to answer the question: “If I have nothing to hide, why should I care?”

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